


Tense

by Salty_Libra



Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series)
Genre: Caretaking, Hypnotism, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:47:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24751054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salty_Libra/pseuds/Salty_Libra
Summary: DISCLAIMER: This was a super experimental short based on an image by @Jayd3nKnight on Twitter. I probably won't do more like this again (unless for some reason there is a demand for it), but it was another fun concept to mess around with. That being said, apologies if this isn't really your thing.I haven't mentioned this in prior posts because I dislike self-promoting; however, I occasionally do polls or open prompt suggestions on my Twitter account, which I will link in theendnotes of this post to keep it out of the way. If you want to get updates right away when I post something or participate in votes, that's the place to do it.
Relationships: Arackniss/Sir Pentious (Hazbin Hotel)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 123





	Tense

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: This was a super experimental short based on an image by @Jayd3nKnight on Twitter. I probably won't do more like this again (unless for some reason there is a demand for it), but it was another fun concept to mess around with. That being said, apologies if this isn't really your thing.
> 
> I haven't mentioned this in prior posts because I dislike self-promoting; however, I occasionally do polls or open prompt suggestions on my Twitter account, which I will link in the _end_ notes of this post to keep it out of the way. If you want to get updates right away when I post something or participate in votes, that's the place to do it.

Pen stared at the bedroom door, drumming his fingers anxiously against the mattress. It was late, and Niss still hadn't come back yet. He'd left earlier that day for an assignment, and insisted on no contact until he'd gotten back. Didn't want to risk being found out. So, Pen had waited.

He heard rapid but quiet footsteps walking through the hallway outside, and a moment later the heavy bedroom door blew open as Niss stormed in - a sight that would be quite intimidating, were he not so small. Pen sat up in bed, his eyes tracking Niss as he walked around the room, visibly fuming in anger.

"I'm going to assume that it didn't go very well, huh?" 

Niss didn't immediately respond, instead falling flat on the bed and burying his face in the fluffiest pillow available, immediately followed by the sound of a loud, muffled groan. "Just shoot me now."

"That bad, huh?" Pen asked, running a hand through the spider's hair. Niss nodded into the pillow. 

"Absolute shit show. Got the target, but everythin' went downhill from there." His voice was muffled, but Pen could make the words out clearly enough. "Need to lay low for a few days, maybe weeks."

"Well, one way or another, it's over now, and you know you can lay low here as long as you want." Pen laid his hands on Niss' shoulders and gripped them firmly, digging his thumbs into the combination of tense muscle and dense scar tissue as his fingers scanned around for muscle knots, quickly finding several. He gently probed with his fingers, earning a sharp exhale of pain from the spider.

"You know, this would be a lot more effective if you weren't so high-strung and tense all the time." Pen frowned slightly. "Giving you a shoulder massage is about as effective as giving it to a rock."

Niss pulled his face out of the pillow and straightened up, his legs splayed out to the sides. "Can't help it. Been this way for longer'n' I can remember." 

Pen paused and contemplated for a moment. "What if I told you there was a way I could change that, if only for a little while?"

Niss raised an eyebrow, his eight eyes contorting into an expression of pure confusion. "Whaddya mean?"

"Do you trust me?"

"Where're ya goin' with this?" He raised his arms into a gesture somewhere between a shrug and something else Pen couldn't quite make out. "Course I trust ya." 

Pen didn't explain, instead reaching forward to grab Niss by the head and neck, gently but firmly pulling him into eye contact. 

_"Relax."_

"What are y..." Niss quickly trailed off as his eyes went out of focus, his arms falling limp at his sides as his thoughts went blank, save for Pen's orders. The snake couldn't help but slip a smug smile to himself; Niss was full of tricks, always an ace up his sleeve, but Pen had tricks of his own. While some demons, like Niss and his brother, could manifest weapons, or others might have various forms of magic, Pen had the notable ability of eye-contact hypnosis. Not something he frequently utilized, nor something he was particularly keen on anyone knowing about - a secret weapon of his, so to speak. He'd used it sometimes in self-defense, but he couldn't recall ever using it for something like this.

_"Take a deep breath in, then out. Slow, steady breaths, like so."_ Pen commanded, watching as Niss' breathing slowed down to match his own. _"Very good, Niss. Keep going. Slow breaths, in and out."_

_"Now, let's get you out of those stiff clothes."_ Niss slowly nodded and began undoing the various buttons on his suit and shirt. Pen helped him pull the outfit off, discarding the clothes off the side of the bed to be cleaned and hung later. He paused to size up the now mostly-nude spider in front of him - nothing he hadn't seen before, but it didn't mean he couldn't enjoy the moment. After motioning for Niss to turn around, he put his hands back on Niss' shoulders and back, the muscle still tense and hard. He frowned: time for something more specific.

_"Relax, Nissy. You're safe. Just relax."_ He felt Niss' tensed shoulders soften slightly under his grip. He returned to the points he'd found earlier and got to work massaging them out, applying pressure and working the knots out where he could. He was far from an expert on physiology, but the way he saw it, Niss' body wasn't too different from one of the machines he worked on, and right now it just needed a little tune-up.

Several minutes and no small amount of hassle later, Pen had worked out every knot he could find. He was fairly certain there were probably ones he'd missed, but searching aimlessly wouldn't do him much good. His job done, he flipped the spider back around and tipped Niss' head back slightly to look him in the eyes again, triggering his power of command again. 

_"You're going to go to sleep now, and you aren't going to have any nightmares or worry about anything else. Now, sleep."_

Niss' eyes closed as he pitched forward into Pen's arms, already sound asleep, complete with his signature soft whistling snore. The snake wrapped his arms around him, one hand up to rub his now-messy hair, and laid back down flat on the bed, reaching over to the bedside table to switch the lamp off. He slowly drifted off, still running his fingers through his little spider's hair.

\---

Niss' eyes slowly flickered open, his vision greeted by cool darkness. He wasn't entirely sure how or when he'd fallen asleep, nor did he have any idea how he'd managed to get where he was - lying on top of Pen, rather than on his side of the bed. Usually when he woke up with no memory of how he got there - especially when his clothes were mysteriously missing - he got concerned, but for some reason he wasn't worried about it. All the worries from the day just didn't seem important to him right now - the hit gone wrong, the potential for a return attack, the hell he would pay if he and Pen ever got found out, none of it. It all felt irrelevant somehow.

He closed his eyes again and felt himself rise and fall with each of Pen's slow breaths. Right now - maybe not come morning, maybe not tomorrow, but right now - he was calm. It was dark, quiet, and in the middle of the chaos of his life, he was calm.

**Author's Note:**

> Aforementioned Twitter Link: https://twitter.com/Salty_Libra


End file.
